The Indiana Health Department has wrapped up its investigation into Planned Parenthood facilities across the state; U.S. Senator Joe Donnelly of Indiana voted against the Senate’s six-year Surface Transportation Reauthorization bill today after an amendment he and Jeff Flake of Arizona introduced was not picked up as part of the bill; The Monroe County Council debated Tuesday where to find $20,000 after the money was already committed for an equipment purchase; Indiana Commissioner for Higher Education Teresa Lubbers has invited every college in Indiana to participate in the first ever statewide survey of undergraduate satisfaction; Workers renovating Franklin Hall have found higher than expected levels of asbestos, temporarily halting the renovation and housing of IU’s Media School.

FEATURE
Next Wednesday the Indiana Board of Education is scheduled to vote on new standards for how some teachers get licenses. The Department of Education has recommended lowering the testing requirements for early childhood educators. The mandatory test scores would be reduced in mathematics, science, social studies and English Language Arts. The vote comes amid a teacher shortage in Indiana. The Board will also consider raising some requirements for teachers taking tests in physics, chemistry and technical education. News Director Joe Crawford spoke today with Board spokesman Marc Lotter and we bring you that conversation now for today’s WFHB community report.

VOICES IN THE STREET
Our weekly public opinion feature Voices in the Street asks what Bloomington thinks of space exploration.

CREDITS
Anchors: Carolyn VandeWiele, Scott Weddle
Today’s headlines were written by Jordan Guskey, Ivy Bridges and Joe Crawford
Along with Cleveland Dietz for CATSweek, a partnership with Community Access Television Services.
Our feature was produced by Joe Crawford
Voices in the Street was produced by Kelly Wherley,
Our engineer today is Joe Crawford
Our theme music is provided by the Impossible Shapes.
Executive Producer is Joe Crawford.

Senator Dan Coats of Indiana joined 23 other senators this morning to introduce a bill that would de-fund Planned Parenthood; The Monroe County website is getting an upgrade; The Town of Ellettsville continues to deal with the fallout from a 2013 flood that forced its offices to move out of the Town Hall and into rental units at Eagle’s Landing Mall; Ivy Tech Community College has announced that they will begin express enrollment days on Monday, August 10.

FEATURE
The Affordable Care Act was passed more than five years ago but legislators continue to debate many aspects of the legislation. Over the past couple years there has been an effort to repeal part of the law that institutes a tax on medical devices. News Director Joe Crawford spoke yesterday with an opponent of the tax, Cook Medical Board Chairman Steve Ferguson. We bring you part of that conversation now for today’s WFHB community report.

BETTER BEWARE!
The Federal Trade Commission is warning about online hotel-booking scams. There are various ways fraudsters prey on travelers; here’s a roadmap to the swindles and directions on how to avoid the potholes.

CREDITS
Anchors: Kelly Wherley and Araceli Gomez
Today’s headlines were written by Jack Hanek and Ivy Bridges
Along with Cleveland Dietz for CATSweek, in partnership with Community Access Television services
Better Beware was produced by Richard Fish
Our feature was produced by Joe Crawford
Our engineers today were Jim Lang and Matt Gwaltney
Our theme music is provided by the Impossible Shapes
Executive Producer is Joe Crawford

Senator Dan Coats of Indiana joined 23 other senators this morning to introduce a bill that would de-fund Planned Parenthood. The bill would prohibit any federal funding from going to the organization. Just yesterday, Coats released a video in which he accuses Planned Parenthood of profiting from abortion through organ harvesting. Planned Parenthood rejects the claim. The controversy began as a result of videos released by the Center for Medical Progress, an anti-abortion group which describes itself as “a group of citizen journalists dedicated to monitoring and reporting on medical ethics and advances.” The group has released three videos so far, each related to the organization’s donation of fetal tissue for use in medical research. Planned Parenthood says the footage was obtained through deceit and possibly by violating state recording laws, federal tax laws and falsified state Identification. They added that these videos are a violation of patient privacy and have been selectively edited. The executive vice president of Planned Parenthood said yesterday the organization does not make a profit on fetal tissue. Coats’ legislation, if passed, would allocate Planned Parenthood funding to other women’s health organizations that do not provide abortions.

The Indiana Department of Transportation expects Section 4 of I-69 to be open to traffic by the end of the year; Indiana University will begin offering a new thematic living learning community this fall, based on sexuality and gender; Cook Pharmica has announced plans to expand its operations in Monroe County, adding up to 70 new positions over the next five years.

FEATURE
The unemployment rate in Indiana reached five percent this month, but the statistics don’t tell the whole story. Correspondent Jerrod Dill brings us the story behind Indiana’s job growth for today’s WFHB Community Report.

INS AND OUTS OF MONEY
OK, you know index funds are the safest and most reliable way to invest. So what now? We continue our conversation with IU Professor of Finance Richard Shockley, who gives us tips on choosing a fund and a fund manager.

CREDITS
Anchors: Casey Kuhn, Chris Martin
Today’s headlines were written by Jordan Guskey, Jerrod Dill, Joe Crawford and Ivy Bridges
Our feature was produced by Jerrod Dill
The Ins and Outs of Money is produced by Ryan Stacy and edited by Dan Withered, in partnership with the Monroe County Public Library and The United Way of Monroe County.
Our engineer is Jen Brooks
Our theme music is provided by the Impossible Shapes.
Executive Producer is Joe Crawford.

Monroe County health officials are exploring whether to begin operating a needle exchange program. The Monroe County Commission approved two projects related to environmental sustainability last week. This weekend Bloomington is scheduled to host the National Softball Tournament. This Thursday is the 50th anniversary of the founding of Medicare and two local organizations are celebrating the milestone.

FEATURE
A Bloomington resident is designing a first of its kind community carbon exchange program to implement in Bloomington. Once it’s underway, the program is intended to reward local residents for sustainable actions through incentives from local businesses. WFHB Correspondent Sierra Gardner spoke with the director of the program, Joe Davis, about the details and status of the program.

ACTIVATE
Sara Frommer talks about her 16 years as a volunteer for Volunteers Tutoring Adult Learners or VITAL at the Monroe County Public Library.

CREDITS
Anchors: Maria McKinley and Doug Storm
Today’s headlines were written by Ivy Bridges
Along with David Murphy for CATSweek, a partnership with Community Access Television Services.
Our feature was produced by Sierra Gardner
Activate! is produced by Jennifer Whitaker, along with the City of Bloomington Volunteer Network
Our engineer is Chris Martin
Our theme music is provided by the Impossible Shapes.
Executive producer is Joe Crawford

Yesterday an activist group released a second video depicting a senior Planned Parenthood official discussing tissue donations, furthering claims from some that the organization is illegally profiting from the sale of fetal tissue; The Indiana State Department of Agriculture has launched a new state-wide program to promote farming and consumption of locally grown foods; A Florida-based company continued its campaign this week to build a cell tower near the Monroe County Airport; A property owner on South Harmony Road asked to get around Monroe County’s sewer regulations last week.

FEATURES
Progress on Monroe County’s new recycling facility has been slowed down over the last couple of months. Last summer, the Monroe County Solid Waste Management District Board of Directors and the County Council approved the establishment of a Materials Recycling Facility, or MRF (“murf”). That facility is intended to process and sell the County’s recyclables. A budget of a little over a quarter million dollars was set aside for the project. Later, the county added forty thousand dollars to the budget to cover higher than expected equipment costs. The building, bailers and other equipment have been purchased and the foundation has been laid. However, during recent meetings, the board voted several times against proceeding with some other phases of its development. Today, for our WFHB community report, Assistant News Director David Murphy spoke to three local people who have been involved in the project’s development.

VOICES IN THE STREET
Our weekly public oppinion segment.

CREDITS
Today’s headlines were written by Sierra Gardner and Jordan Guskey
Along with David Murphy for CATSweek, a partnership with Community Access Television Services.
Our feature was produced by David Murphy
Voices in the Street was produced by Kelly Wherley,
Our engineer today is Joe Crawford
Our theme music is provided by the Impossible Shapes.
Executive Producer is Joe Crawford.

Indiana’s ranking for child well-being has dropped over the past year, according to this year’s Kids Count databook released by the Annie E. Casey Foundation; The Richland-Bean Blossom School Corporation will use funds provided by the state to explore alternatives to the Acuity formative test it currently gives to students in grades three through ten; The Monroe County Energy Mobile spent this past weekend in the Sycamore Knolls neighborhood; Up next is a profile of a local personality – Argenta Perón, also known as “The People’s Diva” and the emcee for shows at The Back Door in downtown Bloomington.

FEATURE
President Obama recently proposed overtime rules that will change the pay threshold for employees to receive overtime pay. These rules have the potential to affect almost 5 million employees across the United States. WFHB correspondent Ivy Bridges spoke to Indiana University Labor Studies Professor Joe Varga, to get his opinions on the rule and how it could affect employers and employees. A majority of Democrats in the Senate and the House of Representatives have signed a letter supporting the proposed overtime rules. But so far, officials representing south-central Indiana in Washington have not been supportive. Democratic Senator Joe Donnelly did not sign the letter supporting the new rule. Republican Representative Todd Young has not issued a statement and Senator Dan Coats, another Republican, issued a statement opposing the rule.

BETTER BEWARE!
Symantec has released their latest report on Internet threats, and there’s both good and bad news. Spam is decreasing, but other dangers are ramping up!

CREDITS
Anchors: Doug Storm and Araceli Gomez
Today’s headlines were written by Jack Hanek and Sophia Saliby
Along with David Murphy for CATSweek, in partnership with Community Access Television services
Better Beware was produced by Richard Fish
Our feature was produced by Ivy Bridges
Our engineer today was Adam Reichle
Our theme music is provided by the Impossible Shapes
Executive Producer is Joe Crawford

When you hear “investment,” you might think “risky.” Richard Shockley of IU’s Kelley School of Business reveals the secret of growing your money in the market simply and without the risk of get-rich-overnight investing schemes.

Each year the Indiana Arts Commission awards grants to further the careers of budding artists around the state. Of the thirty-seven grant recipients this year, eight were from Bloomington, including one piano player getting ready to launch a festival this August. Correspondent Jordan Guskey brings us that story for today’s WFHB community report.

Indiana is sitting on $2.1 billion in cash reserves as the 2015 budget year draws to a close; The legal balance between First Amendment rights and local government ordinances was on display last week at a Bloomington Board of Public Works meeting; The budget for the Monroe County Public Library is expected to grow slightly next year; Horror movies have provided thrills for decades now, but do video games provide the same rush of adrenaline for players?

FEATURE
Each year the Indiana Arts Commission awards grants to further the careers of budding artists around the state. Of the thirty-seven grant recipients this year, eight were from Bloomington, including one piano player getting ready to launch a festival this August. Correspondent Jordan Guskey brings us that story for today’s WFHB community report.

INS AND OUTS OF MONEY
When you hear “investment,” you might think “risky.” Richard Shockley of IU’s Kelley School of Business reveals the secret of growing your money in the market simply and without the risk of get-rich-overnight investing schemes.

CREDITS
Anchors: Casey Kuhn, Chris Martin
Today’s headlines were written by Jerrod Dill and Ivy Bridges
Along with David Murphy for CATSweek, a partnership with Community Access Television Services.
Our feature was produced by Jordan Guskey
The Ins and Outs of Money is produced by Ryan Stacy and edited by Dan Withered, in partnership with the Monroe County Public Library and The United Way of Monroe County.
Our engineers are Jen Brooks and Joe Crawford
Our theme music is provided by the Impossible Shapes.
Executive Producer is Joe Crawford.